Kim Jong-sik is thought to have helped transform the secretive nations arsenal of missiles from failures to inter-continental ballistic missiles capable of reaching US territory Guam.
The scientist has now been awarded the country’s highest honour, the Order of Kim Jong-il, for his work creating the missiles that have put Kim Jong-un on a collision course with President Donald Trump.
South Korea has warned that North Korea could be preparing for its next launch after activity was observed around missile sites.
However, Mr Jong-sik was not born in the Pyongyang elite but was promoted as the country sought to boost its missile development.
Watchdog 38 North’s Pyongyang elite expert Michael Madden said Kim Jong-sik was a “key figure” in the regimes missile development.
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Mr Madden said: “He’s one of these people that Kim Jong-un kind of plucked from obscurity and brought him into the fold.”
The expert continued: “He’s important – pretty much the most consistent person at these missile tests and the things that are related to the defence industry.
“He is a guy that’s helped them identify certain technical problems or reach certain technical benchmarks and that’s a critical thing.”
Mr Madden claims Mr Jong-sik was raised to his current position following the successful launch of the Unha-3 space rocket in 2012.
He said: “They tried a space launch in April 2012 and it failed after 10 seconds – so they got rid of some people and then, in December 2012, Kim Jong-sik was one of the lead guys.
“He moved from being a sort of a mid-level guy to being one of the lead people… and that’s where his career gets this big bump.
“Then about a year-and-a-half later he all of a sudden shows up as a deputy director of North Korea’s munitions industry department.”
As one of North Korea’s deputy directors, he is expected to have more power than the actual department director. He is also the only technical expert to hold the role in the country.
The deputy director was named in Kim Jong-un’s entourage when North Korea first tested its ICBM bring Japan and potentially the United States into range.